Cordelia heard of her father's woeful plight, and of her sisters'
cruelty to him, she wept for sorrow, and at once sent him everything
needful for his comfort. She and her husband then set out to meet him,
surrounded by their soldiers and followers, and brought him in great
state to the palace, and honored him as a king in their land.

The King of France soon gathered an army and invaded Britain. The two
ungrateful daughters and their husbands were killed, King Lear was
restored to his throne, and when he died Cordelia succeeded him in the
kingdom.

[Illustration: KING LEAR.]




THE BRITISH MASTIFFS.


When the Romans invaded Britain they found that the natives had a breed
of large fierce dogs, who would fight bravely for their masters; these
animals they called _pugnaces_, or fighting dogs, and from them the
modern English mastiff is descended.

Soon after the conquest of the island some of the British mastiffs were
sent to Rome, where their sagacity, strength and courage excited so much
admiration, that an imperial officer was appointed to reside in Britain
for the express purpose of selecting the finest dogs to fight with other
animals for the amusement of the vast crowds assembled in the Colosseum.
The strongest dogs previously known to the Romans were the Molossian